FIRE SAFETY IN HERITAGE BUILDINGS

Regulating Fire Safety in Historic and Cultural Structures By: Prof. Vincent M. Brannigan J.D. (2007) ABSTRACT Fires can easily destroy our cultural heritage. Most societies use the legal system to protect against fire. However historic structures are not well protected by typical fire safety codes. First, fire codes are designed to protect lives rather than property. Second, older buildings are usually excused from full compliance with the codes. Third, actual compliance in older buildings may be spotty due to the way such buildings are used. Curators and those responsible for such buildings often have an unrealistically low estimate of the destruction that fire can cause, and may place unreasonable reliance on compliance with a code that is not actually designed to protect historical cultural structures. Resolving this issue requires a novel approach to code compliance. A combination of modern technical analysis and the installation of a properly empowered fire safety controller can

LIST OF MALAYSIAN STANDARDS A) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (OSHMS) NO CODE TITLE 1 MS 1722:Part 1:2005 Occupational safety and health management systems-Part 1: Requirements 2 MS 1722: Part 2:2003 Occupational safety and health management systems - Part 2 - Guidelines B) FIRE PROTECTION & FIRE FIGHTING NO CODE TITLE 1 MS 555: Part 1:2003 Fire dampers: Part 1: Specification (Second revision) 2 MS 555: Part 2:2003 Fire dampers: Part 2: Installation (Second revision) 3 MS 980: 1985 Specification for safety signs and colours: Colorimetric and photometric properties of materials 4 MS 981: 1985 Specification for safety signs and colours: Colour and design 5 MS 982: 1985 Specification for fire safety signs, notices an

Category Total % HERITAGE MUSEUMS 55 42 Melaka 14 25 Sarawak 7 13 Perak 6 11 Kuala Lumpur 5 9 Kelantan 5 9 Kedah 4 7 Pulau Pinang 4 7 Johor 3 5 Pahang 3 5 Selangor 2 4 Negeri Sembilan 2 4 Labuan 0 0 Sabah 0 0 Terengganu 0 0 Perlis 0 0 GRAND TOTAL 55 100

MANAGEMENT CATEGORY Total % Federal Government (FG) 22 17 States Government (SG) 64 49 Government Agencies (GA) 31 24 Government Link Companies (GLC) 2 2 Private / Individual (PI) 12 9 GRAND TOTAL 131 100 MANAGEMENT BY STATES FG SG GA GLC PI Total Kuala Lumpur 6 0 13 2 4 25 Melaka 2 16 2 0 3 23 Perak 3 5 2 0 1 11 Sarawak 0 8 5 0 0 13 Selangor 2 5 3 0 1 11 Johor 1 7 0 0 0 8 Kedah 3 5 3 0 1 12 Pahang 1 3 0 0 0 4 Negeri Sembilan 1 4 0 0 0 5 Pulau Pinang 0 1 3 0 2 6 Labuan 3 0

NO STATE TOTAL % 1 Kuala Lumpur 25 19 2 Melaka 23 18 3 Sarawak 13 10 4 Kedah 12 9 5 Perak 11 8 6 Selangor 11 8 7 Johor 8 6 8 Kelantan 6 5 9 Pulau Pinang 6 5 10 Negeri Sembilan 5 4 11 Pahang 4 3 12 Labuan 3 2 13 Sabah 2 2 14 Terengganu 1 1 15 Perlis 1 1 GRAND TOTAL 131 100